Monday, 19 May 2014

The final day of the 1O1O 4G Match Racing International Regatta took place in glorious conditions, with 10 to 14kts of swinging south westerly enticing the Race Officer to set her course in Kowloon Bay for the third day in a row.

The final three flights of the round robin were dispatched without delay, resulting in a top ranking for David Gilmour, with Ian Williams second, Will Tiller, on the same points, in third and Jeremy Koo claiming the last spot in the semi finals ahead of Sam Gilmour.

Circling pre-start. Image copyright RHKYC

As the umpires and race management were preparing to start, there was a lull in the breeze, forcing Strompf-Jepsen to relay the course while the competitors were drawing lots for boats.

Fortunately someone ’put another coin in the wind machine’ and the semi-finals got underway in 15kts and a massive tide. A frisky finish in 19kts saw Ian Williams finish a boat length ahead of William Tiller and David Gilmour finish with a sizeable advantage over Jeremy Koo.

Williams goes for the hook. Image copyright RHKYC

After changing boats, the teams went into their second match, this time, Tiller beating Williams by 5 boat lengths, and Gilmour securing his place in the final with another win over Jeremy Koo.

The Semi finals featured a ‘best of five’ format, and when Williams beat Tiller in match three, it looked as if it would go all the way, however Williams forced Tiller outside the committee boat during the dial up for rematch four and then proceeded to cover him for the entire race to secure a 3-1 margin and advance to the final.

Close racing in Hong Kong. Image copyright RHKYC

Just as draws and boats were ready to start the final and petit final, a massive wind shift caused the Race Officer to relocate the entire course form Kowloon Bay to Kellett Island in a bid to capture the new Westerly. It took a couple of tries but, after one abandonment, the finals, pared down to best of three, were able to start.

The first flight resulted in a win for Tiller in the petit final and a win for Williams in the final. In the second flight, Williams and Gilmour both made a good entry, only for Williams to take Gilmour well outside the box in the dial up, with the result that Gilmour was still over at the start. From there, it was a straight-forward sail for Williams to wrap up the final and the title of 1O1O 4G Match Racing International Champion.

Crew action on Ian Williams' boat. Image copyright RHKYC

At the prizegiving, where silverware was presented by Mr Bruce Lam, Chief Marketing Officer of HKT, Mr Lam said, “We are delighted to have top international skippers to join the 1O1O 4G Match Racing Series in Hong Kong. A big congratulations to the winners who clearly demonstrated their top-notch skills even when facing unpredictable changes – this is an essential quality of a successful leader, the quality that 1O1O possesses for always being able to provide remarkable mobile communications services to our customers.”

Close match racing brought protests. Image copyright RHKYC

Final Results

1st – Ian Williams

2nd – David Gilmour

3rd – William Tiller

4th – Jeremy Koo

The top four skippers at the 1010 4G Match Racing in Hong Kong 2014: left to right, Will Tiller, David Gilmour, Ian Williams and Jeremy Koo. Image copyright RHKYC

Persistency and Determination...

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